Spike in Southern California herpes cases linked to Coachella

Thursday

Apparently some Coachella festival goers left with something unwanted once the weekend was over.

STD diagnosis app HerpAlert reported a spike in cases in the days following Coachella, PEOPLE reports.

Dr. Lynn Marie Morski from HerpAlert told PEOPLE that in the past two weeks, 1,105 cases have been reported to the service from areas near where the festival is held, including the Indio, Palm Desert and Coachella Valley areas and the Los Angeles area, Orange County and San Diego County.

HerpAlert reportedly treats around 12 cases per day in Southern California, but saw 250 cases on the first two days of the festival.

The site allows users to send in photos of a possible infection for evaluation and prescription treatment. HerpAlert has been operating for two years.

Herpes simplex virus is a lifelong infection according to the World Health Organization.

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